An international perspective on design

Abstract

The world seems to be an increasingly fast-changing place with many societal trends coming and going each year. However, some world-wide trends seemed to have established themselves as being more long-term in nature, e.g. more widespread expectation of global warming, increasing fear of terrorism and globalisation of economies. Other trends are largely confined to the industrialised economies of North America, Europe and the Pacific Rim. Examples include an ageing population, more demanding customers and increasing disposable income. Different trends will be seen in other regions. The impact of these trends upon designers and design cannot be overstated. They will affect the way consumers purchase, use and dispose of products. The types of products that consumer's buy and the features they will require from their products will change. Designers must respond to this with innovative product designs that make optimum use of the already scarce natural resources available. Likewise, engineers must be innovative in their task of converting these designs into reality. <br>This paper seeks to identify some of the trends that will have most impact upon product design in a number of global regions. The responses that designers could (or should) make to these are listed together with some examples of products that illustrate the issues involved. The impact upon the way designers think and how they need to be educated is also discussed. Finally, designers' ideas are only pipedreams until they are transformed into reality through the effort of various types of engineers. The paper concludes by describing some of the new challenges that engineers will face as they play their role in responding to global and regional trends. It is highly likely that the challenges will vary somewhat from one region to the next and so it is crucial that locally-adapted solutions are implemented.